How sweet was my dog!

I love dogs and cats, but my house is small and what space I have is crammed with books, so there is hardly room for a pet, though a cat would be very useful as mice are running over the sink. Spells against mice have not been successful thus far and they seem be resistant against poison. Anyway, no room for a pet, but there is always some room for a book about pets, provided it pertains to classical antiquity. This week I bought a book with lamentations on animals in classical literature (G. Herrlinger, Totenklage um Tiere in der Antiken Dichtung, Tübingen 1930).  I discovered it at the lowest shelf of a second hand bookshop, somehow lost between German literature and for a price for which you can hardly buy a loaf. This is not the kind of literature I will read from beginning to end, but it is interesting to see what kind of poems have been written and indeed some are real inscriptions like this one. It is dated AD 100-200 and is thought to come from Salernum. A little bitch (catella), named Patrice, has died and her owner has made a tomb stone for her with a marble relief and an epigram. The habits of this charming dog are readily recognizable for any dog owner.  Actually, this dog must have been utterly spoiled:  gremio poscere blanda cibos `on (my) lap begging flatteringly for food’. I am sure Patrice was never denied whatever she wanted!

CIL 10, 00659

Portavi lacrimis madidus te nostra catella,

quod feci lustris laetior ante tribus.

ergo mihi, Patrice, iam non dabis osculla mille

nec poteris collo grata cubare meo.

tristis marmorea posui te sede merentem

et iunxi semper Manib(us) ipse meis,

morib(us) argutis hominem simulare paratam;

perdidimus quales, hei mihi, delicias.

tu dulcis, Patrice, nostras attingere mensas

consueras, gremio poscere blanda cibos,

lambere tu calicem lingua rapiente solebas

quem tibi saepe meae sustinuere manus,

accipere et lassum cauda gaudente frequenter

(final line missing)

portavi: to the grave

madidus: wet

lustris tribus: three lustra  (15 years, ablativus temporis)

ante: adverb!

osculum: kiss

collum: neck

cubo: to lie down, recline

mereo: to deserve

Manes: the souls of the departed. Iunxi Manibus meis = I unite after my death = forever

argutus: acute, witty

paro + inf.: be about to, resolved to

deliciae –arum: delight, love

attingo attigi attactum: to come to

gremium: lap

lambo: to lick

calix calicis  (m.):cup

lassum: me, when  tired

cauda: tail

 

Part of the inscription. (http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2058806/EDR__18bc8eaa0e2a1d92c04f18e389696402__artifact__cho.html)

Translation by E. Courtney (1995)

Bedewed with tears I have carried you, our little dog, as in happier circumstances I did fifteen years ago. So now, Patrice, you will no longer give me a thousand kisses, nor will you be able to lie affectionately round my neck. You were a good dog, and in sorrow I have placed you in a marble tomb, and I have united you forever to myself when I die. You readily matched a human with your clever ways; alas, what a pet we have lost! You, sweet Patrice, were in the habit of joining us at table and fawningly asking for food in our lap, you were accustomed to lick with your gready tongue the cup which my hands often held for you and regularly to welcome your tired master with wagging tail . . . . . .